I am seeing a lot of questions on Facebook pertaining to the Mad Hatters Challenge. I have taken the time to glance through and answer the questions.

I think many people are asking questions but not taking the time to read through my guidelines. Please take some time and read through as I have spent a lot of time getting all of the resources available to you. I have answered most of the questions within the guidelines but I will separate it here because it seems to be getting over looked.

When going to the website, you need to scroll down and review the entire document. Here is a direct link for the Challenge and Guidelines.

When is the challenge due?

April 1st, 2014.

How Do You Submit Your Entry?

The Entry is for a live public exhibit at Creativ Festival. For this challenge, the items must be shipped to The Crochet Crowd. Email photos are not being accepted for submissions for this challenge. The hats are being auctioned off to raise money for The Crochet Crowd Scholarship Program to give students and opportunity for scholarships.

I don’t live in the USA, can I still participate?

I don’t live in the USA either… we do not restrict entries to certain countries. It’s been referred to as a global challenge as it’s open to all Crochet Crowd Members to participate.

Red Heart is amazing, though they have sponsored this challenge, you may use the yarn that you have access to. I have outlined this in the guidelines.

Can you use different colours?

Under the guidelines, I have stated that you can use any colours you wish. Your hats can be striped, solid or whatever that suits your creativity.

You have run a challenge before with these hats, it’s not fair for those who haven’t done this before?

We did a video in September 2013 when the pattern was released. There was no official challenge but viewers were welcome to show us photos for a gallery.

For those who have done the pattern before, they have completed the stitch work. Most of the hats do not match the Alice in Wonderland theme. I feel it’s not fair to disqualify any one that retrofits a hat. They have done the work as a regular challenger would do. There’s 3 months to complete a hat for this challenge and I know first hand that this hat takes about 4 hours to make.

What Version of Alice in Wonderland Are Allowed?

Alice in Wonderland has several movies and books. It doesn’t matter which version you are using to inspire you. The point of this challenge is to tell us the story of an element within your hat that we can identify as being part of the story. We will allow “Through The Looking Glass” which is the sequel to the book.

I cannot read a pattern… Will you be doing a video?

There’s a video tutorial available. Refer to the guidelines link above. It’s embedded into the document. It’s also available on our YouTube Channel.

The Pattern isn’t really an Alice in Wonderland Challenge?

The pattern is the basic top hat… it’s how you colour it with yarn and embellishments that make the theme. The true challenge is whether you can choose your colours and embellishments to match the theme.

I don’t like this challenge… will you please decide something else?

I’m sorry if you don’t like the challenge… it just means you will have to sit this one out and let others take the $500 Gift Prizes. I cannot please everyone and there will always be someone that disapproves.

How is the final choices being made?

As stated in the guidelines, it is being judged by a panel of judges before the show. The top 10 hats will be pulled out into a featured position for Creativ Festival Guests to vote on. The final 10 hats will have Creativ Festival Guests voting on the best. The 5 hats with the most votes will win the prizes.

No… those are optional. Just the hat itself is mandatory to follow the pattern. The accessorizing of your hat is completely up to you.

Can we send in more than one entry in one box to The Crochet Crowd?

If you plan on doing multiple entries, it makes sense to ship them all together in one package to save money on postage. They need to be here by April 1st and right now, it’s 3 months away… so you have time to make a few hats and get them shipped to us. There’s no rush to get them shipped to us, as long as they are here before the due date.

I am not good enough to crochet so I won’t enter?

Remember, this is a challenge and you have time to work on your project. The accessorizing of the hat is the fun part and probably the most critical for the judging. Remember, your hat will be auctioned off to benefit The Crochet Crowd Scholarship Program. Even if you believe yourself that you don’t have a hope to win, you may just surprise yourself and you may feel great knowing that your hat is being furthered to provide funds for the Scholarship Program. It’s a win for students, possible win for you and your creativity is showcased with 1000’s of crafters at Canada’s Largest Consumer Crafting Show.